Shades of Summer

Gratuitous E.L. James pun not intended at all whatsoever nu-uh. Not here, not now, pal.

An interesting fact people may overlook when considering the often pricey facial accoutrement that tends to appear with warmer weather and dangerously plentiful sun: there are fundamental medical benefits to wearing sunglasses. This, of course, in addition to the more popular and obvious: looking like you holster mad swag.

Maybe you don’t know this about me but I am a violent hypochondriac. I’ve spent years reading up on cancer prevention and forfeited processed sugar nearly two months ago because I’m pretty sure that I’d been teetering on the brink of diabetic. As would happen, my condition has left me entirely committed to keeping my sunglasses on through the morning, well into the night and even while forced to yell, “I can’t see!” inside a dark movie theater if it means I will never face UV ray fostered eye damage, skin cancer by way of eyelid, cataracts, or straight up blindness. I don’t feel bad about it though, this actually makes spending money on sunglasses a little more digestible.

Frankly, I’m only feeling a little sorry for how judgmental I’ve been toward what is potentially the large slew of hyper-cautious people that I come upon on subways or at night or most recently, yelling “can I merge?” while in a car, driving down an empty Houston street and so forth.

In the spirit of rebuking my wrongful approximations until this point and understanding that the investment in fancy sunglasses right now will transcend the boundaries of the current season, here are eleven pairs for you, by us that we’d recommend you try your hardest not to lose. We know that it’s inevitable sometimes, but just try.

4. In a tri-cross among a cat eye, a wire frame and semi-sheer lenses, these Prada, ’50s car inspired shades hail from a large mass poking around at Loehmann’s right now. $164

5. You may not be into sling shots, but I’d bet you appreciate a lucite frame, clad in golden arms just as much as the next female trying to preserve her eyesight. Am I right? Thierry Lassry, $435

6. In a third adaptation of the popular cat-eye, these cage fighters come from Henry Holland and look as scrumptious (scrumptious?) as their backdrop’s sandwich likely tastes. Hate my joke? Ditto. $220

8. And if you’re into looking like your kitchen furniture–which, I don’t know, you might be–and enjoy the idea of being able to plausibly call yourself “a square times two,” Cast Eyewear has it out for you. $260

9. While we’re on the topic of Cast Eyewear, this particular pair, deliberately photographed over a book titled, Surreal Objects, make you feel like you’re watching the world in 3D for as long as you’re wearing them. Though nothing will actually appear in special effects, the people around you will be like, what? And that, compadres, is priceless. $240

11. And finally, there’s Charlotte! She’s covering an entire side of her face but only to demonstrate that even though these plastic chunkers care of the queen of eyewear, Karen Walker, are quite large in size, they’re not too big to make an 80s combover look rad. $250

There is, of course, always an astonishingly on-point blend of sunglasses available at Nasty Gal and on Asos, but if we’re talking investment and lifelong camaraderie, “A little [indulgence] now and then is relished by the wisest men.” Which are you leaning towards?

Them Chiquita bananas dope af! & I do believe investment in sunnies is necessary bc I find most cheap ones uncomfortable/ill-fitting.

http://madamecouture.blogspot.com/ Emma Hager

There’s nothing that makes the face look better than a pair of sunglasses. Instant swag,as you mentioned. And maybe we can chalk up your eschewing of the Cronut (TM) to your hypochondria? Surely there’s diabetes to be had in the midst of those hybrid pastry layers.

Love your photos- so tongue-in-cheek and creative. Also, I wouldn’t mind having the red Dior sunnies!

Elizabeth

http://www.farandwildjewelry.com/ abigail lind

i have invested time and time again and it’s never gone my way. my raybans are somewhere in washington square park, my persols are circling the globe on a plane, and my karen walkers are still at brunch. i’m cut off.

http://pantherstophat.com/ The Panther’s Tophat

I’m glad to see I’m not the only one who has hypochondriac tendencies. The more you read, the worse it gets. My advice is to stay clear of all health blogs and any random ‘died from banana overdose’ style headlines. Stay Fresh, Stay Clean

Oh Leandra, you make me laugh so much! You know, it’s the end of hard day’s work in France, and this is good for me actually, reading your post! You should prescribed to burned-out people, effect guaranteed!
I love some of those sunglasses, but my favourite picture is the one with the banana (and you and your silly smile of course).

I am loving those Warby Parker’s! I have heard nothing but great things about the brand. I have a hard time spending a copious amounts of money on sunglasses, as I am notorious for losing them, having them fall off my face and stepping on them or falling off my head into lakes… all true stories. <3 this post though! Proud that you can keep sunglasses on your face at all times.

I am also a hypochondriac…every time I eat my cereal in the kitchen, I can’t help but read the fridge magnet about signs of a heart attack, thinking that, yeah, my chest is actually feeling a bit tight…

thecoattaileffect.blogspot.com

Paris

Love your creativity in those photos, it’s so cute! These are some funky glasses I weirdly want to buy. Great choices! I wouldn’t have ever known they existed.

The Eiffeltower-like sunglasses by Henry Holland are to die for! Must. Have. Now.
As for the hypochondriac tendencies…I feel you. It’s a pain in the ass, but sometimes I think, maybe it’ll pay off in a couple of years…

What holds me back from not having more high quality sunglasses (awesome design, pro eyes protection) is that I’m always losing them. It just drives me mad!!! And then I promise myself not to spend more than 5 bucks on the next ones (a promise I obviously don’t follow through!).

scandinavian people think jews have a very strange face, especially the nose is very bad-looking,kinda scythe-like they say, . They call it ” Ful nasa”. the word “ful” is pronounced like the english word “fuel”. i kind of feel sorry for them, but maybe its the testosterone.. i´ve heard it increases the tissues inside the nose, especially bone mass.

It´s intresting to note that the hebrew work “nasa” can mean both “to marry” and “to lift” and “to desire” among many other verbs..

In scandinavia people think jews have a very strange face, especially the nose is very bad-looking,kinda scythe-like they say, . They call it ” Ful nasa”. the word “ful” is pronounced like the english word “fuel”. i kind of feel sorry for them, but maybe its the testosterone.. i´ve heard it increases the tissues inside the nose, especially bone mass.

It´s intresting to note that the hebrew work “nasa” can mean both “to marry” and “to lift” and “to desire” among many other verbs..

StyleGodis

Never really found sunglasses very much attractive until now. Loved this post!

xx

StyleGodis.com

Shellie Cooper

Absolutely disgusted with the sunglasses and salt and pepper shaker labeled Heroin and cocaine! You should be ashamed of yourself. Do you have a clue to how many lives have been destroyed by these two drugs. Yet you need to promote sunglasses like this? Sickening!